Short film 'Une Bouffée D’air' recounts 1911 theft of Mona Lisa

A new short film titled 'Une Bouffée D’air' by director Federico Caria dramatizes the 1911 theft of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa from the Louvre. The film focuses on the first interrogation of Vincenzo Peruggia, the Italian handyman who stole the painting. Caria emphasized realism, using lenses that mimic human perception and recreating a 1911 room with period props, including a copy of Le Petit Parisien announcing the theft. The film is distributed by Prem1ere Film. The real theft occurred on August 22, 1911, when painters Louis Béroud and Frederic Languillerme discovered the painting missing. Peruggia was caught two years later attempting to sell the work to the Uffizi in Florence, claiming patriotic motives to return Italian art to Italy.